00:05It's all in, we have a good team and it's a hard field of competitors, but we are motivated and
00:14we go like this to the race.
00:17It's not a hole between him and his adversaries in a day, it's a precipice.
00:24The world champion against the double Olympic champion.
00:28Yeah, everybody knows that ladder is always the climb where this race is usually decided.
00:33And it's going for the ascension of the Côte de la Redoute. Will it be decisive this year?
00:39I don't see any other scenario this year.
00:41It's not a flechette, it's a real flech! He's catapulted!
00:47On the monuments, I have no more experience than that and it's going to be a great test.
00:51I'm going to try everything and put everything in place to give me 100%.
00:58Race organisers have added 7.5km this year and they haven't let up on the challenges, with 11 climbs across
01:04the day's 259km.
01:07The final 50k will be particularly tough with the Côte du Rosier, followed by a number of smaller rises and
01:12descents that will thin out the fields.
01:20100km into the race and a huge group of 52 riders had gone clear. A number of big hitters are
01:27present in it, notably Remco Evenepoel.
01:31Other teams have strong riders in there too. There's UAE's Domaine Novak, former Tour de France winner Egan Bernal of
01:38Ineos Grenadiers and Dylan van Baal of Soudal Quickstep.
01:43Decathlon's CMA and CGM didn't have a man in the lead group, which meant they had to join UAE in
01:48keeping the gap manageable.
01:50At this point, it was around 2 minutes and 40, with the race zipping along at an average of 46km
01:55an hour.
01:56The Côte du Rosier did the chasing group a favour too, as the leaders struggled to maintain their rhythm on
02:02the day's second climb.
02:03That was the cue for Tim Velens to step on the gas.
02:06Sensing his UAE team leader Tadej Pogacar was unhappy with the situation, the Belgian champion accelerated and the gap melted.
02:15The leaders quickly lost a minute of their advantage, but alerted to that fact some of the league group tried
02:20to react.
02:22A small group put a glimmer of daylight between themselves and the rest of the breakaway as they sneaked inside
02:27the final 100km.
02:30Soon the peloton swallowed up the group with Evenepoel in it, and it was an unfortunate moment for Tom Pidcock
02:35to change bike.
02:38Velens was struggling too now, but he put his team leader in a great position with the leaders just 18
02:42seconds ahead.
02:43That didn't last long on the Côte du Stocker either, as Pidcock battled to get back into contention.
02:49I think he's mentally checked out, it's just not going to be his day today.
03:03The race would be played out over the next 30km as Pogacar's UAE team dictated the pace.
03:10It was all winding up for a showdown on the climb of La Redoute, some 35km from the finish.
03:18Rebkoeve Nepal is in difficulty on the climb.
03:23He's already starting to lose bike length.
03:26Here's the attack.
03:28And immediately Paul Sexas responds to Tade Pogacar.
03:33The world champion ignites on La Redoute and gets rid of everybody but the Frenchman.
03:38Paul Sexas has responded to the attack of the world champion.
03:43There's nobody left.
03:45Schellmoser is the only rider in the gap and Pogacar tries to attack again.
03:51Look at the face on the Frenchman.
03:53He needs to hang on for dear life.
03:56What a difference, what a distance to the rest of the group.
03:59What a battle we're seeing here.
04:01This is amazing and Sexas is even going to show him like,
04:04OK, I'm still here.
04:10The two leaders worked up a comfortable advantage,
04:13as Matthias Schellmoser also sought to break clear.
04:18A group formed behind Sexas and Pogacar ahead of the Côte des Forges,
04:22while the young Frenchman clung to the wheel of his Slovenian rival.
04:26The gap was now enough for the duo to head to the Côte de la Roche au Faucon,
04:31knowing only they would contest victory.
04:34that's the only one.
04:39Pogacar is still there on the front.
04:42Sexas' head goes down.
04:45Can he hold on?
04:46Pogacar again is putting in another big blow,
04:50and suddenly the wheels come off.
04:53Pogacar starts to ride away.
04:56He has found the gear that he needs,
04:59and Sexas cannot respond to the might of the world champion.
05:06So some ten kilometers from the finish, Pogacar had made the decisive burst,
05:11and with Sexas comfortable in second, the battle for the final podium place was on,
05:16as the chasing group sped along the Côte des Ardennes.
05:20The world champion into the finish line.
05:24Tade triumphs.
05:25Four victories in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and he honors his friend as he points to the sky.
05:31His first time in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and he's not just ridden it,
05:36he has sprung to the very top of world cycling already.
05:41At 19 years of age, Paul Sexas, second.
05:46Remco Avnapal looks across.
05:48He's looking for the podium finish.
05:51Pale Bilbao is going to go with this as well.
05:54So is Egan Bernal.
05:56Egan Bernal fancies this.
05:58Roman Gregoire makes his move on the left-hand side.
06:01Remco Avnapal, Egan Bernal, Roman Gregoire.
06:05But it's going to be Remco Avnapal at the front,
06:08although he gets challenged on the outside.
06:11Remco Avnapal, podium finish.
06:14I don't do many races.
06:16I don't have a lot of opportunities to win,
06:20because I don't race a lot.
06:21So it's a lot of pressure for me to deliver on the days like today.
06:27And I'm really, really happy that we succeeded.
06:32No doubt it was a little tougher than Tadej Pogacar might have expected,
06:36as Paul Sexas once again confirmed his huge potential.
06:39But the Slovenian still took a fourth win in the race.
06:42That's as many as Alejandro Valverde,
06:44and just one fewer than the great Eddie Merckx.
06:47Beaten on Paris-Roubaix,
06:49Pogacar can't complete a Grand Slam this year,
06:51but he does now have 13 monuments on his CV.
06:55Pogacar finishing 45 seconds ahead of Sexas,
06:58with Avnapal leading a group of 22 home behind the top two.
07:03Sexas again sharing the podium with Pogacar
07:06after finishing third behind the world champion
07:07at last year's European Championships.
07:10It's likely to not be the last time we see them together either.
07:14Perhaps it'll be at the 2027 edition,
07:16when Pogacar will be looking to equal Merckx with win number five.
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